Nick Clegg said banks would in future collect data on lending on the basis of ethnicity to monitor what is being done to reduce disparities. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Some black and ethnic minority business figures find it harder to get bank loans than their Indian and white counterparts, but racial discrimination is not to blame, according to a government report.

Instead, it argued that other factors, such as poor credit worthiness and lack of savings, explained why ethnic minority businesses were having a problem accessing finance.

Publishing the report on Tuesday, Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, welcomed the findings and announced that banks have agreed in future to collect data on their lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the basis of ethnicity so that they can monitor what is being done to reduce disparities.

Clegg commissioned the inquiry in 2011 in a speech in which he suggested the banking industry was guilty of inadvertent discrimination, and, although a draft of the findings was said to be ready a year ago, publication was reportedly held up by Whitehall in-fighting.

The report said members of some ethnic minority groups were particularly keen to set up a business – 35% of Black Africans, 18% of Black Caribbeans, compared with 10% of white British – but that startup rates for these groups was very low.

Black African, Black Caribbean, Bangladeshi and Pakistani businesses were more likely to have their loan applications turned down than Indian and white ones, the report said.

"There are a number of factors contributing to loan outcomes, and the disparities in success rates are not due to an applicant's ethnicity. These include: collateral shortages, poor credit worthiness (as assessed through credit scoring), lack of formal savings, poor financial track record, perception by some of discrimination by banks, [and] language barriers.

"There is no evidence to indicate that disparities are due to racial discrimination per se, but variances could be accounted for by other business characteristics."

The banks told the inquiry that they do not ask about ethnicity when assessing loan applications to SMEs and that decisions are heavily based on automated credit scoring models, which do not incorporate ethnicity.

But the British Bankers' Association has agreed that in future it will collect ethnicity data for SME lending so that it can monitor the situation.

Clegg said: "I welcome the fact that the report finds no evidence of racial discrimination, and I am pleased to see the banking industry has agreed to a range of measures to address the various factors that have prevented some entrepreneurs from getting loans.

"This report is a good start and a valuable statement of intent, but there is much more to be done to make sure that entrepreneurs from ethnic minorities have a fair chance to achieve their goals."